So, I'm fairly new to Lusternia, and after much deliberation still can't decide on a guild to join, though I've narrowed it down to most likely a Geomancer, a Celestine, or maybe a monk. I'd like to play an archetype that plays well with others (don't plan to be playing top-tier any time soon, but I like to be useful ), and would also appreciate any heads-up on RP, learning/difficulty curve, etc...thoughts?

Also I'm a human, if that matters...

All guilds are helpful in group combat, though mages/druids as well as bards are particularly group orientated.

Definitely consider RP, and current political climate as well. Um, Celest is being smashed in the ground, Magnagora doing the smashing.

Humans do fine in all guilds.

edit: Oh, also, guilds differ in the amount of lessons needed for solo combat: Celestines need a lot. Although you can still help out in group combat.

If you want to be effective without having to invest buckets of lessons, and want something group-oriented, go bard. Monks are fairly cheap as well. Druids are a bit cheaper than mages and are also great for group situations - heck, all you really need is 'vines' in nature.

Well, here's what those guilds do in groups:

The strongest Geomancer in the group will set the demesne, which is a set of area effects that hit everyone who's enemied. Then, depending on your tertiary, you'll be going for a different type of support/kill. Telepathy and Telekinesis are more straight-up offensive and have skills that work really well when used by multiple Telepaths/Telekinetics at the same time. Dreamweaving and Runes have their uses too but are less directly offensive and more situational.

Celestines focus on support (through spamming entangles and other hinderings) and instant-kills (sneaking in a timed instant-kill through the spam, or working with other Celestines to drain mana for absolve) in groups.

Monks just lay down a lot of damage and afflictions.

I smell Judge!

Judgealicious. It used to work well against Shuyin until he kidnapped me and made me give him the lines.

Hmm...I may have to make an alt at some point...

What's the community like for Geomancers? All the help files say they're crazy, and I imagine that opportunity is not passed up in the slightest-not sure I wanna just jump in with the winning team though.

Or for that matter, how are the communities for Tahtetso or Shorfangi? Does the small number of people in Serenwilde (as far as I can tell from browsing threads) tend towards the "tight-knit, everybody knows each other" vibe or the "dude, nobody's ever around" vibe?

I saw this as being leadership in both guilds while they were at their largest. They have a community?

The Tahtetso are more active now then when you were in the guild, but compared with other guilds I have been in both in lusternia and other IRE games they do not have what I would call a strong community. That said there are multiple people in the guild who are very supportive and helpful so I would have no problems telling anyone who is interested to give it a try.

Part of the problem with them is their guild RP, it just does not fit in easily with other celest guild backgrounds. It also contains a lot of jargon. Don't tell anyone in game but I constantly forget what the hell the tahtetso philosophy is Thank god for help files.

It is alright, I forgot the ideals often as GM.

Anonder, just try it out. Create a character under a different name, if you wish. I've found a strong guild is really helpful in the beginning, though the wider commune/city is still accessible. Serenwilde is fine, there are a couple nice, active people in the Shofangi too, so don't let that throw you off.

Aright I've decided at last-thanks for the help, everybody.